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About Lanyon

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I backed Deadfire back in the day but as I am a patient gamer with a long backlog of games to play, I didn't start playing Deadfire for the first time until quite recently, which had the added bonus of not starting until all DLC and 5.0 were already released.
I've been playing for a bit now and am Level 9 and I've noticed that my companion reputations seem to be unchanging. I discovered this because I was hoping to romance Xoti and upon looking stuff up online, some mention of needing a reputation level of 2 or higher with her is required for certain dialogue options to become available. I looked up the reputations tab and found I have a very large number of positive-reputation interactions with Xoti, and yet her reputation level is still only 1 (see attached screenshot). As it turns out, the same appears to be true for all my other companions as well. What's going on, and is there any way to fix this, like with a console command if nothing else?
My game is pretty much vanilla, with the only mod installed being the Enhanced User Interface by Spherikal. A solution or explanation as to this issue would be much appreciated.

I don't think you quite understand the definition of the word 'nostalgia'. According to OED, nostalgia is defined as "a sentinmental longing or wistful affection for a period of the past". So yes, actually, nostalgia does disappear if you touch something again later and it's still everything you liked about it originally. Nostalgia would be if someone were to harp on about the merits of BG2 compared to PoE without ever having played BG2 again since about 2005 or something. Nostalgia does not apply to anyone that has played the game nearly once a year, every year, since its release, because there has been no time lapse required to develop a longing or wistfulness for "a period of the past".
As for 'convenient handwaving', you're doing exactly what you're accusing me of... except in the opposite direction. You say I'm conveniently handwaving everything you said regarding the difference between tabletop and game design, and yet you are conveniently handwaving what I said about their similarities.
However, I'm going to 'conveniently handwave' most of the rest of your reply (i.e. "BG1 and 2 actually had way more boring trash than PoE") because I simply flat out disagree.
And you may say that my arguments don't prove quality, but your arguments don't refute it, either. You say a bunch of my arguments 'pander to the lowest common denominator' and then list a bunch of things that only excel or are noteworthy about a single aspect of the many I listed with regard to BG2/IE, wherein the reality is that the quality is evident in the fact that it hit ALL those aspects on the head.
And yes, I do know what opinions are, and everyone's entitled to them, including me. And IMHO, Obsidian is taking PoE2 down a path that diverges too far from the 'spiritual predecessor' that the franchise was supposed to honour.

See, even just a cursory look at the community behind the IE games provides ample evidence that this statement is just ridiculously uninformed. BG/BG2 were released almost 2 decades ago now, and they are STILL relevant today, played by tons of people, modded to hell and back, and then even after all that an enhanced edition of the Vanilla (unmodded) experience was released and sold exceptionally well.
There may come a day when i eat crow, but personally I don't believe for a second that PoE will ever have the same following that BG and IE titles in general did, and STILL DO.
BG2 was everything it's cracked up to be.

I don't have time to respond to everything you wrote and i have no desire to write a novella, but I'll respond to a couple things that stuck out. First, your statement that a tabletop game isn't comparable to a cRPG is flat out false. Just because you don't feel like the comparison is valid, does not automatically make it so. My personal opinion on the matter still stands: even in the cRPG medium, encounter design can be tailored to rectify pretty much all of the "issues" that have been quoted as the reasons for reducing the party size from 6 to 5. Just look at the IE games... there are no shortage of encounters where a bunch of trash mobs weren't required to make a challenging encounter (i.e. dragon fights, demilich, Irenicus, to name a few).
Maybe I'm alone in this, but I'm getting tired of 'micromanaging' being brought up as a NEGATIVE all the time and used as justification to introduce simplification in games where there's already much too rampant oversimplification already (look no further than The Elder Scrolls franchise).
I actually happen to LIKE micromanaging. I loved combat in the IE games and still do. Given the choice between another playthrough of BG2 or PoE, I would choose BG2 any day. Which leads me to comment on the statement:
What better content? I liked PoE, don't get me wrong, but an actually worthy successor to BG2? I think not (in my opinion). BG2 is the superior game, by far. After all this time and getting back to the genre, there were high hopes that Deadfire would be to PoE what BG2/ToB was to BG/ToTSC. Personally, for my own taste in games, I don't see that happening now because they're departing too far from the formula that won them their initial KS success in the first place, by appealing to fans of the IE games.
Last but not least, I have to comment on the 'nostalgia and memory' comment. It's a tired, old argument and it needs to stop. I've heard it way too often when attempting to discuss the merits of the IE titles compared to what's on offer today. The thing with nostalgia and rose-coloured-glasses is that they don't stand up to modern/recent exposure. Nostalgia is when someone claims 'those were the good old days' without being able to remember the flaws and negatives of the thing. This isn't at play, though (for me, anyway) since I still play the IE titles all the time. There's no 'nostalgia' when I can say, unequivocally, that I'll be playing through BG2 again in the next few months for probably about the dozenth time in my life, if not more than that. BG2 set the bar high, and it hasn't been met yet. I was hoping Deadfire would aspire to. But, for me, it never will because of these fundamental changes to the gameplay mechanics.

This is one of the stupidest excuses for justifying less than 6 party member I've seen. Party size has literally ZERO effect on encounter mob composition unless you're a lazy sack of garbage. ENCOUNTER DESIGN is the primary determinant of encounter composition.
This is true for tabletop as much as for gaming. I've DM'd for many a year, and the hallmark of lazy encounter design is "oh, the party CR is higher than expected? Better toss in a couple extra mobs!" rather than redesigning the encounter to properly fit the party CR.

I'm of the same mindset LordCrash, I remember being SO stoked about DA:O because it was touted as the spiritual successor to BG while being marketed.
I've never been so disappointed by a game. I don't find it even enjoyable, let alone anything compared to BG2. I still have DA:O installed, and I've never finished it.

I despise this mentality. Whatever happened to the old mantra "If it isn't broken, don't fix it" ?
Speaking in general terms (not just the games industry) I can't begin to count the number of things that have been essentially ruined over the years in the name of 'progress'. If something is working, stop trying to reiterate it.
PoE was decent, don't get me wrong, and it did somewhat revive the IE feel. I say somewhat, though, because I can unequivocally declare without hesitation, and I'm sure many would agree with me, that PoE was no BG2. IMHO it wasn't even BG1... given the choice to start up yet another playthrough of either game, I'd still pick BG1 over PoE even though I've done MULTIPLE playthroughs of BG1 and only 2 of PoE.
BG2 is considered by many to be the pinnacle of cRPG experiences (I for one am in the camp that BG2 was the better experience between it and PS:T, although the story in PS:T is what makes it considered 'the best cRPG of all time' according to many). Here we are nearing 2 decades since the release of BG2, and nothing has come close to how awesome it is.... this is REGRESS, not progress.

Neither would I, if a game could be released on consoles without changing a single thing about what makes it great on PC.
Unfortunately, past precedent has ALWAYS shown that as soon as a title is going to be released on consoles as well as PC, something has to be sacrificed that wouldn't have had to be if the title was PC only.

Goddamnit. I didn't see the Twitch stream, but if this is the case I'm canceling my pledge. PoE was supposed to be about reviving the IE style of game for hardcore cRPG fans, a NICHE MARKET. This news sounds like they're trying to eventually go down the old dumb down/simplify road in order to pander to the masses and *shudder* attempt to release to consoles.
Do I go too far in saying that I'm starting to have doubts, to thinking that maybe Obsidian has capitalized on their fanbase and is gearing towards abandoning them for the sake of the almighty dollar?
I'm beyond disappointed. Looks like Beamdog (the creators of the Enhanced Editions) are my only hope now.

I can certainly try as you will bear witness.
So the options for the party size are: 4,5 and 6.
And given those choices I am asked what size I would prefer.
And being obtuse the way I am I answer: I do not have any preference given the above choices.
Now, where is that option in the poll?
Sorry to mix you up in this Fluffle, my obtuse comment was not directed at you. But since you've explained that given the choice between 4, 5, and 6, you truly have no preference between the 3, I've added the option to the poll for you. Thanks for participating!

There's no such an option 'cause the thread's purpose it show the developers that "the people" demand a 6-character party because yeah!
Can you be any more obtuse?
Once again, I'll reiterate. The poll question was simple as I gave it, but seeing as how you seem to be having difficulty figuring it out, I'll put it in different words. Here we go: what size party do you prefer, given the choice between 4, 5, and 6?
At no point was the poll written to suggest "I DEMAND 6 MEMBER PARTIES!!" or any such nonsense. I expressed my opinion/preference in my POST (separate from the poll, in case that eluded you).
As for the lack of the option for "I don't mind the party size", it's not an option because that's not what the question was! The question was what number a voter PREFERS. And seeing as how 5 is the number they've announced for PoE II, and 5 happens to be an option in the poll, there IS an "I don't mind the party size" option: it's called "5"!
I apologize for coming across as condescending and/or confrontational, but my original reasons for posting the poll had no agenda other than trying to see what sizes others prefer. I expressed my opinions for preferring 6 in my post. I don't appreciate the insinuation that I submitted the poll/post as some kind of attack on Obsidian.

You do realize that the entire campaign for PoE was based on appealing to Infinity Engine "purists" and "nostalgia zombies", right?
I could be totally off here, but I was under the impression that PoE was created to scratch that IE CRPG itch a lot of people have had for over a decade. The point was to provide us with more of that same style of game, not to break entirely new ground and change up the formulae.

What's pointless is your entire comment. Obsidian have always been one of the best developers when it comes to listening to fans and taking popular/controversial forum posts seriously.
And it doesn't remind the devs why they shouldn't bother to post here (what an asinine thing to say). They encourage fans to speak their minds.